Education of the Lepchas: With Special Reference to Night Schools in West Bengal

Abstract

The Lepchas are the inhabitants of the Eastern Himalayas and at present live in Darjeeling and surrounding hills of West Bengal, Sikkim, Western part of Bhutan and Illam region of eastern Nepal. The Lepchas call themselves Rong which means son of the snowy peak or the son of God.Education amongst the early native settlers of the Eastern Himalayas was shrouded in ignorance about 200 years ago. There was total absence of formal education and it was through experience that the earliest settlers, the Lepchas learned about what their elders had to offer. The education at that point of time was totally non-formal and incidental. The Lepcha people are known to be rich in legends and folklores. Those days the Lepcha folklores were sufficient as the sources of education in these parts. Looking at the recent development in education of the Lepchas, a vast disparity has been found between the Lepchas dwelling in the urban and Lepchas in the rural areas. At present the Mayelyang Lepcha development board has been working continuously for the upliftment of the Lepcha community as a whole.